The Yankees utility players, Ronald
Torreyes (0.3 WAR), Tyler Wade (-0.1 WAR) and Neil Walker (-0.1 WAR) had a
combined WAR of .1 in 2018, and while they are all serviceable as utility
players or as players off the bench, this is an area where the Yankees could use
an upgrade in 2019.

Didi Gregorius has proven his worth, and the Yankees should reward him with an extension

We’ve written a lot
about Didi Gregorius here this year and for good reason. The Yankees are a team
filled with exciting young players with bright futures ahead of them and every
day it seems that Didi’s future is as bright as just about any of them. Simply put, Didi Gregorius is awesome and it would be a
smart move for the Yankees to extend his contract now to ensure his place as a
key member of this team for years to come.

Credit: Jim McIsaac Getty Images

Now in his third full season with the Yankees, Gregorius is a completely different player than the relatively unknown prospect that was given the impossible task of replacing Derek Jeter at shortstop in 2015. Didi struggled that year, both in the field and at the plate. The calls for a new shortstop began very quickly. Thankfully, the Yankees stuck with Didi and that relatively unknown prospect with an uncertain future has matured into one of the best all-around shortstops in baseball.

To get right into the
contract stuff, Gregorius will be entering his third year of arbitration
this winter, with one more year following before hitting unrestricted free
agency in 2020. Didi made about $2.4 Million in 2016 and after a successful
campaign that saw him hit .276 with 20 home runs, 70 RBI and 32 doubles, he was
awarded a raise to $5.1 Million for the 2017 season. Based on this season’s
numbers so far, Didi is almost certainly earning himself another nice raise
this winter.

According to Spotrac,
Didi’s current salary has him as the 11th highest paid shortstop in
baseball but a raise of just $3 million more would put him all the way up to
fourth on that list. The only players higher on that list are JJ Hardy, Elvis
Andrus and Troy Tulowitski. Hardy and Andrus are making $14 Million and $15.2
Million respectively while Tulowitski’s $20 Million salary for this year is a
part of a massive 10 year, $157 million contract that he signed when he was
looking like a cornerstone piece for the Colorado Rockies.

If the Yankees let Didi
go through the arbitration process each of the next few years they may find
themselves paying a figure close to those on top of that list and that is a
credit to the transformation Gregorius has undergone since he arrived in 2015. In
2015, he batted .265 with just nine home runs, 56 RBI and 24 doubles. He raised
all of those numbers in 2016 and is on pace to raise them all again in 2017,
currently batting .291 with 25 home runs, 84 RBI, 27 doubles and just 67
strikeouts. I noted back in my season preview that the 2017 season would be
just his third season as a full time starter and that meant that we couldn’t be
sure of just how good he could really be.

Sitting here now as the
season winds down I think it is pretty clear that Gregorius is a very good
all-around player and I find myself wondering if he could get even better next
year. If he hadn’t missed most of April with a shoulder injury we could be
sitting here looking at a 30 home run, 100 RBI shortstop, which there are none
of in MLB this season. In addition to his remarkable improvement as a hitter, he
has displayed remarkable tools as a fielder and put any concerns that Yankee
fans had at the beginning of 2015 to rest. Although the number of errors he has
committed has remained fairly consistent from year to year if you watch the
Yankees play every day you know that Didi has an impressively strong arm and often makes
difficult plays look relatively easy. He committed 13 errors in 2015, 15 in 2016 and
has just 9 so far in 2017. Based on the caliber of plays he often makes in the
field, those are numbers that the team will live with and the fact that he is
on pace to improve that number this year is a definite plus.

While Didi’s
statistical improvements speak strongly for themselves, the needs of the
team going forward may force them to lock up Didi sooner rather than later.
Just a year or so ago there were thoughts that with Gleyber Torres, Jorge Mateo
and other prospects in house that Didi may not be around long term. With another
year of improvement under his belt coupled with the trade of Mateo and the
injury to Gleyber Torres, Didi’s continued improvement looms large at a
position which is not as deep as it was a year ago organizationally.

Credit: Bill Kostroun AP Photo

While there are other
infield prospects elsewhere in the organization such as Tyler Wade, Thairo Estrada
and Kyle Holder, Didi is cementing his status as a long term anchor at the
position with each passing game. Even though Torres is still in house
and expected to contribute sooner rather than later, Didi’s performance, plus
the long term uncertainty at other positions like second and third base, may
force Torres to make a move when he comes to big league roster. With one wave
of prospects already here and contributing and another one on the way, locking
up Didi now would allow the team to use some of their secondary prospects to
explore trades to fill other needs.

It may seem too simple,
but the Yankees should make Gregorius a part of their long
term future because he is just a fun player to watch on and off the field. The quiet,
unassuming 25 year old the Yankees acquired from the Arizona Diamondbacks has
grown into one of the energetic faces of this Yankee team. Still just 27, he is
poised and well-spoken in victory and defeat. He has grown and matured
remarkably under the bright lights of New York that some thought would be too
much for him.Instead, New York looks to be as good a stage as any for him as he looks
right at home in the middle of the Yankees’ infield every night. He has a million
dollar smile and looks like he genuinely enjoys playing the game. He is also
developing his presence off the field and on social media with his famous
#StartSpreadingTheNews tweets which are posted after each victory and his
#DidisDeeds campaign for the All Star game where he traveled around cities giving
out free subway rides.

Didi has put himself on
the map with his baseball skills and gone from a talented prospect to a major contributor
on a team that is looking to make a deep run in this season’s playoffs. In a
lineup that features Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez and others, Joe Girardi has had
no problems slotting Didi into the cleanup spot and other run producing
positions. His continued progression as a hitter has already led him to achieve
an important milestone. In Wednesday afternoon’s series finale against the
Minnesota Twins, Gregorius slugged his 25th home run of the season,
which moved him past Derek Jeter for the Yankees' single season record for home runs by a shortstop. It’s a noteworthy accomplishment for a player who has come a
long way in just a few short years and was tasked not only with replacing a giant in the organization's history, but one of baseballs all-time great shortstops.

Although his Yankee
career got off to a rough start, Didi Gregorius is turning out to be the best
case scenario for a prospect. Moreover, the Yankees didn’t give up much to acquire him and Didi has transformed himself into a key contributor on a playoff contending team. He
is still young, plays a premium position and could very well continue to
improve his performance at the plate and in the field. He is a good teammate and
presents marketing opportunities for the team off the field as well. His energy
and charisma are contagious and he seems to genuinely enjoy being a member of the
team. It would make a lot of sense for the team to move to lock Gregorius up now
before he gets deeper into arbitration or even to free agency. A contract of
4-5 years at about $12-$15 Million annually would be very fair for a player who
checks as many boxes as Didi does. He is a good player, a good teammate and a
wonderful ambassador for the team. I, along with most Yankees fans, would love to see the team reward him with a contract and keep him around long term.

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The scene was set for the
young budding Bomber squad last fall after finishing their season a game away
from a World Series berth. They were the team that arrived a year too early,
and another deep playoff run would be the goal, but then an old friend threw a
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Giants and Cardinals among others threw their name into the ring, but who did
he choose? The Yankees and Dodgers, it seemed to be a battle of baseballs
powerhouses, but the Yankees had an advantage over their former neighbors,
payroll flexibility. They were able to use this into an absolute steal of the
reigning NL MVP, and the Yankees were thrust into a world series or bust year.
The season was historic, they set the season home run record without Gary
Sanchez, Didi Gregorius, Greg Bird, and Aaron Judge for most if not all of the
year, but it ended in a bust at the hands of…

The
speculation started during the regular season, even prior to his trade from the
Baltimore Orioles to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Where would Manny Machado go upon
his free agency at the end of the 2018 regular season? And, with that, which
teams would be knocking on his door? No
sooner did the Yankees’ regular season come to a close after their fated ending
in the American League Division Series, the talks of Machado coming to the
Bronx took off as though pushed by a speeding 4 Train behind Yankee Stadium. The
truth of the matter is that the rumors started even prior to Machado’s free
agency being on the horizon -- they started
at the trade deadline.

Yankee fans are left with more questions than answers following Clint Frazier’s injury riddled 2018. Frazier suffered through concussion symptoms throughout his 2018 campaign, which saw him appear in 69 games between the minors and the big leagues. Now, Yankees fans wonder what 2019 will hold for the 24 year-old.

Miguel Andujar’s 2018
arrival in the big leagues on April 1st had been much anticipated by Yankee
fans and we were rewarded with a Rookie of the Year performance by one of the
most exciting players in all of Major League Baseball.

Corey Kluber is the difference
maker and impact arm the Yankees need atop their rotation. In 2017 and
2018, Yankee fans wished ace-like status on Luis Severino, but his
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has been the definition of consistent for the Cleveland Indians, winning 18+
games four out of the last five years and winning 20 games in 2018 for the
first time in his career. Kluber has posted an ERA below 3.50 every season
since 2014, and has struck out at least 220 hitters in the same span. Kluber
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ace, the ace the Yankees need.

There’s
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surrounding factors change, creating different situations and, as such,
different fits -- both from a financial and from a team standpoint. A case can
be made to bring back either of these free agents, or both of them, or…
neither. But it’s almost impossible to make a blanket answer that fits in every
possible scenario.

It
felt like a shoe-in. So much so, in fact, that I advocated
for what I thought was the inevitable all the way back in September, before the
BBWAA even announced the nominees for American League Rookie of the Year.

First acquired in a relatively
small-time, 40-man sell-off move around this time last year that sent 1B
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right hander with promise, but one still years away from making any significant
Major League impact.At the time, the
important part of that trade was the $250,000 international bonus pool money
Miami included, which we all thought was to be used on Shohei Ohtani.Ohtani, obviously, never ended up in the Bronx
and will not pitch at all in 2019 after undergoing offseason Tommy John
Surgery.

Flashback to July 3rd -
the Mariners had just won their eighth consecutive game, putting them 20 games
above .500 and in possession of the third-best record in baseball. Everything
was going right in Seattle, and it surely seemed as if the M’s infamous 17-year
playoff drought would finally come to an end. Just two and a half months later
on September 22nd, the Mariners were eliminated from playoff contention,
following a dreadful summer slump and the concurrent surge of the
division-rival Athletics.

I
cannot count the number of times I tweeted about the Yankees and their problem
with RISP and situational offense over the course of the 2018 season. Of
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nothing to sniff at. They also claimed the single-season home run record. And
that’s great.